Enslaved rebels fight for freedom: Nathaniel Bacon’s 1676 slave rebellion

Abstract

ABSTRACT Using a transatlantic approach that employs Black perspectives, this study examines how enslaved people in Virginia considered and participated in Bacon’s Rebellion in 1675–1676. I utilize British correspondence, petitions, and official reports that document the actions of enslaved rebels, and compare and contrast the actions of enslaved rebels in Bacon’s Army to conventional slave revolts elsewhere in the Atlantic during the period to interpret their intentions. I argue that slave soldiers in Bacon’s army were engaged in slave insurrection. Their actions as such fit broader patterns of resistance in the Atlantic world, and slave rebellions in early British North American history.